Earth is crammed with heaven

I used to use the story of a potato as a sermon illustration. It was about a man asking God for some sense of meaning in his life. He thought and prayed about it Until one day he was in the kitchen, And he heard God say "What have you got in your hands?" He looked down And there in his hand was a potato. His first thoughts were quite limited. What can I do with a potato? Chipped Boiled Mashed Roast Saute Then Potato printing Stain removal Peelings in the garden And so he went on Until, legend has it he wrote a book entitled '101 uses of a potato.' The beauty of sermon illustrations is we never let the whole truth get in the way of a good story... Of course we would never wilfully lie... However: Lent has been a bit like that for me so far. You may remember a decision I made on Shrove Tuesday, that every day of Lent I would de-clutter something Physically Emotionally or Spiritually. You can read about it here http://karensan

Well that was an interesting week! Last week you may recall I decided to spend Lent de-cluttering Physically Emotionally Spiritually. If you missed it, you can read about it here http://karensandford.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/taking-up-not-giving-up-for-lent.html I have been reading thinking praying. Walking running playing. I've taken warm baths; mooched by the sea; and spent 5 hours de-cluttering... wait for it... 1 corner! ONE CORNER! Anyway. I have also worked during that time And been involved in ministry of one kind or another. And on the whole it's been a good week. I've heard God. And enjoyed spending time with him. On Wednesdays I do Parent & Toddlers. After crawling through traffic at some ungodly hour, then dropping Chris at the station; I was on my way to the hall this morning when I realised I couldn't do it. I had nothing to offer. Nothing to give. Nothing. We have a good team for Parent & Tots at P

How many pancakes have you had? I only cooked about 20 this year But I had one boy less at home And no competition to see who could eat the most. Tomorrow, I'm sure you know is the start of Lent. I've seen plenty of statusses telling the world what they're giving up. But you know I'm not sure that's what's required... Is God glorified by us not eating chocolate? Or whatever? And isn't it something between us and God anyway? Yesterday during my few hours retreat I was encouraged to think about taking something up for Lent. Last year I embarked on 40 days of feasting. You can read about it in my archive should you so desire... But the thing I keep coming back to is the idea of decluttering. Those of you who know me well, will know I'm not the most ordered of people. And some parts of our house are full of clutter. But I also think my life might benefit from a bit of a declutter too. So here's the deal. Every day during Lent I&